A Prize Winner!!

This was my entry into the Spotlight Quilt Challenge and today I got a phone call from Australia to say that I was the GRAND PRIZE WINNER! I had just about given up hearing from them and was deciding whether I should enter it anywhere else. You just never know - they loved it!! The prize is a Brother NX-400 sewing machine - I was just hoping that I could win some money to spend in the store and didn't bother too much about the machine!! WooHoo!
Watch this space!

Collaborative Art Journal - Brights

This is the last of the Collaborative Art Journals, which is Brights, belonging to Barbara Pritchard. I received this in July and have been procrastinating about the last pages for over a month :-(
The first page is a branch of wattle - they are the brightest flowers out in winter and there are so many down our street. The flowers are actually tiny pom poms and I made the leaves by using the pinking shears to cut out the shape then snipped the edges.

My next page is just playing around with lots of pieces of bright fabric and threads, starting with roosters Rise and Shine. It is covered with gauze, which I am not too happy with - too dense for this piece.

The next page was fun to make as I had bought some beads because they looked like licorice allsorts, the others I had in my stash. The jelly beans are painted wooden beads. Here is the sweet shop:

Now the piece of procrastination: the parrot! My friend Ray Clifton is a keen photographer and I told him about my idea of doing a bright bird - perhaps a rooster. He found this photo and I have played around with ideas for it. In the end some of the pieces are glued on. I used stitching to make feathers, the background is upholstery fabric. This page is not as bright as the photo, so I included it as well and made a frame for it.

We have all had a great journey working on these journals and will present the finished articles to Rose City Quilters on the October Club meeting.
I think that next year some of the group are wanting to try a similar thing but with a different approach. Perhaps making our own journals using different techniques and with a theme each month - that may be harder to keep on track - we'll see!!

Another Teaser!

Sorry this is all I can show you for another challenge!
I have used these 2 fabrics. There is a tree, applique, hand stitching and lots of beading - well it is a wall hanging size and it really does have to catch the judges attention - from a photograph, that's only 20 seconds.

The photos have to be in Australia by the 14th September, so I am on schedule (thank goodness it's all finished!).

D is for .....

ducklings,
dirt,
dosing, and
docking.

Mother duck had brought her babies into the chook compound hoping for an easy feed this morning.
Nolan and I spent an hour rounding up the sheep so we could dock the lamb's tails and vaccinate them with a triple vac. for pulpy kidney. 5 male and 7 female lambs and very muddy clothes which are now in the wash and should get dry today.
It is the first day of spring and we have had 3 days of sunshine to celebrate. I have been able to dig in new trees for the orchard, we both mowed the lawns yesterday and I fell asleep pretty much after tea!

This Could Be Trouble!

Poor Chloe, it was too much to bear. Here she was, lying out in the sun, minding her own business when this little lamb came to investigate - yep! too close for her - it might think she's the mum!

Unfortunately the weather has been soooo very wet lately, I found the little one on the right, dead this morning. Most likely a combination of the wet and cold and it was the smallest twin. Still sad though.

You'll Never Walk Alone

My very dear friend, Marjorie started chemotherapy for her cancer today. Over the last 10 days I have made her this quilt, it's really very simple but every stitch has been stitched with love, it has fabric with angels on it in the centre and I have quilted angels, hearts and feathers around the border. It is backed with soft, fluffy wincyette and has 80% wool 20% cotton batting and measures 54" square.
There will be times when she feels very alone and the struggle will seem all uphill, but she will know that she is being loved and cared for every step of the way.

corner angel

All my love, Marjorie - this is so for you!

My Brighton Pavilion - an Art Quilt

This my interpretation of a postcard for the Challenge at Celebration of Quilts last weekend. The postcard was the Brighton Pavilion. Certainly the colours are not correct but I loved the 'Turkish' look of the building. So I have used copper for the onion roofs - heated and scored. Stitched the lattice work and made the uprights from satay sticks. Overall size is 420mm x 300mm.